A Study On English Translation Of The Word Gao In Selected Works Of Deng Xiaoping From The Perspective Of The Unit Of Translation

Gao is a dialect word in Southwest Mandarin, now absorbed in the national wide written language. Due to its great capability of word-building, it has becomes a popular Chinese word. Even until now, new phrases with Gao are emerging in modern Chinese. Gao enjoys a high using frequency in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping—it appears 1,294 times in total.By now, few scholars have conducted studies in the English translation of Gao. In view of this background and condition, the present thesis attempts to make a study on the English translation of Gao in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, aiming to provide inspiration and materials for those who are engaging in Chinese-English translation, interpretation, and their teaching, as well as Chinese-English dictionary compilation.Taking Gao as the research object, the thesis conducts a detailed study to show the English translation of Gao in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping. The thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter one, as an introduction, includes the origin and development of Gao, the previous researches on the English translation of Gao and on the English translation of Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, theoretical basis, methodology and significance of the present study. Chapter two discusses the English translation of Gao at the word level. Chapter three discusses the English translation of Gao at the phrase level. Chapter four discusses the English translation of Gao at the sentence level. Chapter five discusses the English translation of Gao at the text level. Chapter six analyses the influence of translator's subjectivity on the English translation of Gao in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping. Chapter seven, as the conclusion, summarizes the findings, points out the limitations and make makes suggestions for further study.The findings of the research are as follows:1. When the word Gao is the unit of translation, the meaning of Gao is categorized into two kinds:the basic meaning of Gao, and the meaning of Gao when it acts as substitutes for other verbs. As for the former, Gao is translated into the corresponding English words; as for the latter, translator have to first find out the verbs Gao substitute, and then translate these verbs. The translations of them are those of Gao.2. The phrase with Gao is the unit of translation. Under this circumstance, translators see the phrase with Gao as the unit of translation, instead of the single word Gao. There are five types of the phrase with Gao:"Gao+complement" phrases, "Gao+object" phrases, set phrases with Gao, "Gao+Negative" phrases, and "Negative+Gao" phrases.3. The sentence with Gao is the unit of translation.In this case, nor the single word Gao or the phrase with Gao is the unit of translation; translators see the whole sentence as a whole. There are three types of sentences with Gao:the Ba-construction with Gao is regarded as a unit of translation, Gao is omitted in some cases, and the structure of the sentence with Gao is rearranged in the process of translating.4. When translators regard the text as the unit of translation, then Gao is translated by means of five cohesive devices, namely, reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion.